


what a name means

by djcati



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Legacy of the Force Series - Aaron Allston & Troy Denning & Karen Traviss, Star Wars: New Jedi Order Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, NJO AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 11:25:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1646930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djcati/pseuds/djcati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>[Originally written July 4th 2009.]</p></blockquote>





	what a name means

They've given up hope, every last one of them. He knows this. It breaks his heart to look at Ben and see a battle-hardened soldier instead of an excitable kid playing spy games; to look at Jaina and see a Sword instead of a sister.

To watch the Holonews and see Caedus instead of Jacen.

Names have a real, almost tangible effect. He knows _this_ , too, probably better than the rest of his family. What you call someone determines who they are to you and those around you.

Caedus, not Jacen.

Vader, not Anakin.

He remembers the essay Ben wrote for his parents. The fall of Anakin Skywalker. And he remembers the end of that story, that they all know so well -- or do they? Because sometimes Anakin thinks they don't. They've forgotten. Sometimes he thinks it doesn't mean as much to them as to him, because they aren't reminded of the shadow in which they still live every time a security guard checks their ID, every time they sign a tapcaf check, every time someone calls them in the street.

(Shouldn't Luke _Skywalker_ be reminded? Sometimes he wants to scream at his uncle, _You didn't give up then. Why are you giving up now?_ )

It's youth and naivety and a little bit of arrogance. He's self-aware enough to know this along with everything else. He is the only one who truly understands that this is not over just because he's the only one named after a Sith Lord? It's hardly an academic qualification.

But he's also determined enough not to care, because it's not just about what he knows. It's about what he _feels_ , and though his mind says Caedus, his heart still says Jacen.

( _There's a fortress somewhere_ : an idle thought. _The password is Jacen, not Caedus._ )

( _Anakin, not Vader._ )

This isn't over yet.

And maybe he'll be wrong and maybe he'll fail and maybe he'll die. 

But someone has to make Jacen start asking questions again. And Anakin knows that it has to be him.

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally written July 4th 2009.]


End file.
